The present invention relates to safety and warning indicators, and more particularly to portable, removable, and wearable active indicators, and even more particularly to wearable strobe light indicators.
Policemen, firemen, public works employees, or anyone working in areas where there may be danger to themselves or to others have often sought to bring attention to themselves or to the locale so as to avert any danger. Police typically wear phosphorescent yellow indicators, Firemen wear red protective suits, FBI personnel wear coats with the letters FBI prominently printed on the backs and fronts, and street workers and bicyclers often wear brightly colored belts and/or ornaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,039 to Johnson discloses a pivoting projection beam safety helmet directed towards bicyclers. This patent provides a wide angle flashing rear light to warn approaching cars and a narrow forward lamp that illuminated the path ahead. U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,680 to Tabanera discloses an electroluminescent bicycle helmet with illuminated windows on the sides and front; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,411 discloses a signalling vest that indicates turning, forward, backward and stopped condition of the wearer.
There are many patents that disclose a wide variety of safety signaling light emitting diodes, flashlight-type lamp and phosphorescent, reflective and luminescent patches, belts, etc. However, each of these known devices has limitations that the present invention addresses. None of the known patents position a lamp so that the lamp shines in an entire 360 degree circumference around the wearer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wearable light source that provides light output in a complete 360 degree circle around the wearer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flashing light to attract attention, and it is a related object to use a flash lamp that outputs a bright light to enhance the attraction of attention.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a wearable flashing lamp beam and means to rotate that beam completely around the wearer in a manner similar to a navigation lighthouse.
It is another object of the present invention to provide multiple wearable flashing light sources.
The foregoing objects are met by an active signalling device that is attached to a wearer. The active signalling device is a lamp which connected to and powered from an electronics assembly and a battery. The lamp is positioned so that it is viewable for a full 360 degrees around said housing.
In a preferred embodiment the signalling device is positioned on the top of a hat or cap. The lamp itself may be an incandescent or xenon flash lamp that is visible from any position around the wearer. One type of lamp is a circular flash tube, and another is a straight tubular style that may be arranged in a vertical direction for full 360 degree viewing. Other preferred embodiments include typical bulb styles that are mounted upright where they also are viewable over the full 360 degrees.
In another preferred embodiment the lamp shines outward from the wearer is a particular direction, but there is a motor rotating the lamp such that the shining traverses the entire 360 degrees around the wearer.
Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: